From Our Principal
St Mel's is a proud Catholic Education Community, striving, learning
and achieving together through Christ our light.
Newsletter ~ Term 3, Week 2, 2026
Principal's Message:
Dear Parents, Carers, Families and Friends of St Mel’s Primary School,
In between a range of tasks and classroom visits this week I was again able to be on the yard during both play breaks across multiple times this week to witness the children enjoying their break times. Our children have been enjoying the dryer weather engaged in imaginary play, Ga Ga Ball, playing on the adventure playgrounds, chasey games, skipping, sand play and of course, soccer.
The recent World Cup has re-ignited interest in soccer, with a number of active soccer matches being played across the week. Whilst most of these have been quite positive experiences and involved children from a range of year levels, high levels of competitive play have required some additional intervention and a reminder to students (particularly older students) to be more mindful of playing fairly and with consideration of our younger children. We will continue to monitor this situation until interest wains.
Installation of Bishop Rene Ramirez as 9th Bishop of Sandhurst:
Great excitement surrounds next week's celebration for our former Parish Priest, Bishop Rene, as he prepares to be Installed as our new Bishop! A number of our families have registered through the parish to attend with their children, along with Danae Napier and myself to celebrate with a very large gathering of invitees, parish, school and community representatives. We wish Bishop Rene every best wish for his new appointment and as he has requested, continue to pray for him as he lives out his ministry.
2027 Foundation Enrolments:
Further offers of places have been made to new and existing families with children to commence in Foundation next year.
Available places are filling fast for our Foundation Learning Community for next year.
Families still yet to present for enrolment and/or complete the required documentation are reminded to do so by completing ONLINE enrolment forms via our school website now:
www.smshepparton.catholic.edu.au
2027 St Mel's Kinder Enrolments:
Parents and carers with children to commence at St Mel's Kindergarten are advised to enrol now for next year. Independently judged as best local kindergarten, the St Mel's Kindergarten offers a wonderful early years program for pre-school children. Places will fill quickly and parents and carers are advised to contact Kinder Enrolment Officer Leah via:
Phone: 0439 336 014
Email: scececenrolment@ceosand.catholic.edu.au
Website: www.stmelskindergarten.weebly.com
Magnify Sandhurst'
Every Student - Every Teacher - Every School - Every Day!
As per my recent Facebook Post, I have been extremely impressed and pleased by the manner in which our children have re-engaged in their learning since returning from the recent school holiday break. Our school-wide behaviour expectations and routines are so well known to the children and become part of the very fabric of learning here at St Mel's PS.
These clear, consistent, named and known expectations and routines make learning more predictable, understandable lessening the cognitive load on our children freeing up their brains to access and take on new learning. Repeated, short, sharp Daily Review in Literacy and Mathematics supports students remember content and concepts, whilst also stimulating their brains to make connections which in turn supports more efficient recall of knowledge, facts and learning as they actively engage in applying their knowledge and skills.
We look forward to the learning journey ahead across Term Three and the second semester!
De La Salle Orchestra:
As per our recent Facebook post, the visit of the student orchestra from De La Salle College in Malvern (Melbourne) was a wonderfully educational, entertaining and enjoyable event. Our children were certainly enthralled by the visit. Hopefully we may receive further visits from the orchestra in the future.
"The Addams Family" - A theatre production by Notre Dame College:
Our Year 5 and 6 Senior Students enjoyed the theatrical production of "The Addams Family" on Wednesday this week. Interesting, given Wednesday Adaams was a particular focus of the story. The production is running at West Side Performing Arts tonight and tomorrow night.
Tickets via RIVERLINKS
Grandparents Assembly:
As per the email to parents and carers earlier this week, our planned assembly intended for earlier today is to be rescheduled for a later date. We keep the students, staff and community of our sister school, St Anne's College, Kialla in our thoughts and prayers as they have celebrated their Feast Day today, prior to the church celebration of the Feast Day of Mary's mother and father this Sunday.
AUS Alert - National Test Transmission:
A national test of AusAlert, Australia’s new national emergency warning system, will take place on Monday 27 July 2026 at 2pm. All compatible mobile devices (phones, tablets, smart watches, safety watches and some vehicle devices) will receive a Critical Alert message that vibrates and sounds a loud, siren-like warning for about 10 seconds (even on silent or do not disturb). The message will clearly state it is a test and no action is required as a result of receiving it.
Prior to Tuesday, our teachers will have provided 'age-appropriate' information to our students to prepare them for the transmission which is likely to be heard from staff devices.
This test transmission will be contexted in our annual Emergency and Evacuation Drills for the children as a very good way to prepare for any emergencies in the future. This will be delivered in a low key, matter of fact manner, as per our usual safety communication to our children.
2026 Athletics Day (Friday 7 August):
Our children have been busy preparing for our annual Athletics Carnival to be held at the Shepparton Athletics Arena (McEwan Reserve, Shepparton) in a few weeks time.
Parents and carers are most welcome to attend and support our children as they compete and participate in a number of athletic events. Citius, Altius, Fortius! (Faster, Higher, Stronger!)
Further details to follow...
Future Staff Professional Learning Days (Student Free Days): [Repeat]
A reminder of the following days coming this term:
CESL Spirituality Day - Wednesday 5 August 2026:
Our school will host four other CESL schools and the staff of the CESL Central Team (Tatura Office) here for this day of reflection and faith formation. Last year we hosted St Anne's College Kialla for this annual CESL Spirituality event. The staff of St Anne's will also be joined by the Staff Teams of:
- Sacred Heart PS, Tatura
- St Mary's PS, Mooroopna
- St Joseph's PS, Nagambie
We look forward to hosting these school and office staff here in our lovely school environment for this important day.
A reminder - St Mel's Uniting OSHC will not operate here. Children can be booked in at St Brendan's PS and/or St Luke's Catholic PS Uniting OSHC services.
CESL Teaching For Impact PL Day - Thursday 13 August 2026:
Our teachers, Learning Support and Wellbeing staff will travel to St Mary of the Angel's College for a professional learning day facilitated by Teach Well, an organisation focussed on enhancing teaching, direct instruction and supporting student learning. We look forward to this day of professional learning with colleagues from local CESL schools and colleges.
The Year 3/4 Specialist Program will be moved to Friday 14 August - remember to dress in correct school sports uniform on this day!
Bullying! No Way!! Day!!!
This annual focus on Pro-Resilience and Anti-Bullying will be held on Monday 17 August.
Book Week 2027:
Preparations are well underway in preparation to celebrate books, language, literacy and story within the theme 'Symphony of Stories'. As part of the celebrations children will attend a theatrical Book Week themed performance in our hall, have an opportunity to purchase books from our Book Fair and on Friday 28 August dress up in the theme of Book Week.
Details to follow...
Staffing Update
- Our Administration Officers, Maria and Tegan, will be away Monday.
- Learning Support Officer, Cassie Waack, has been away ill recently along with Danae Napier (Deputy Principal) and Lis Rodriguez (Wellbeing Officer) taking leave.
St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care - Vacation, Student Free Days and Before School Care:
NOTE: Registering your child/children in St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care can take up to a week to process, given the documentation required.
Parents and carers are recommended to register NOW if there is a possibility of using this service at any time this year. Once registered, children are booked in via the registration app.
Parents and carers seeking more information or wishing to register children for Vacation Care are directed to contact Uniting Vic Tas directly by:
Phone: 1800 183 103
Email: earlylearning@unitingvictas.org.au
St. Mel's Uniting School Holiday Care:
The St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care service offers an exciting and interesting program for the school holidays. Students can be booked in from one day through to all days of the program. Further program information will be available closer to the next holidays.
St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care - OSHC Staff Professional Learning Day: [Repeat]
To ensure our staff remains at the forefront of early childhood education practices and to continuously improve our services, we have scheduled our annual professional development day for our statewide team.
Please be advised...
...that all OSHC services will be closed for the day on Friday 31st July 2026.
We understand that a closure may cause some inconvenience, and we apologies for any disruption this may cause to your routine. However, we firmly believe that investing in our team’s professional growth directly benefits your children's development and learning experiences.
If you have any questions of concerns, please feel free to reach out to your service Director.
Thank you for your continued support.
Early Learning Team - Uniting VIC TAS
School Dates:
Please check the Upcoming Dates & Events section of the newsletter regularly.
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